Here's the simple truth, folks: weight is speed's enemy. Wanna go fast? Sure, power is important, but so is minimizing mass. It's a lesson many in the car industry have ignored so far this century, as governments demand greater safety and consumers crave more luxury for their hard-earned cash. In a time when the world's fastest car weighs 4,052 pounds and bastion-of-lightness Lotus wants to build two-ton sedans, it might seem the days of lightweight cars have been left behind.

But instead of waiting for Lamborghini to start selling one-ton cars with immovable seats, we can take comfort (metaphorically speaking) in the SSC Ultimate Aero II, new pictures of which have come our way courtesy of Top Gear. A 2,600 pound carbon fiber-bodied hyper car with 1,350 horsepower from a 6.8 liter twin-turbo V8. A car where the wheels are made of carbon-fiber and weigh only 13 pounds. Yeah, it may cost $970,000, but it's still less than half the price of its nearest competitor, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport.

According to Top Gear, Shelby Super Cars has had trouble convincing American car lovers with the means to plunk down the cash for their super-fast cars, which just seems like a crying shame. The only reason to hold anything against the old SSC Ultimate Aero was that it looked like the love child of a Cizeta-Moroder and a Mosler; the new car's Jason Castriota-designed skin is sexier than a Kings of Leon song about Minka Kelly. This is what a hyper car should be.
[via Top Gear]